Welcome to Sneak Peak
This week on Sneak Peak, I have soon to be published Author, Vincent Anomihe from Nigeria. Vincent is giving us a peak into his Work-In-Progress titled, Web of the Fox.
Please make Vincent feel especially welcome.
Book title; Web of The Fox
Author; Anomihe Vincent C.
Genre; Culture/ Belief
No one in the house realized when Ejike stopped snoring. Who cared to notice? infact it was welcome as long and his wife and two kids were concerned.
She hated it when her husband snored.
'Ahhhh! What a relief at last!'
Grace thought as she woke up at cock crow to go to the outside of the compound and ease herself. There was no convenience room within the house, no toilet and no bathroom, and so when it comes to responding to situations such as this, they have to go out of the confines of the room into the darkness outside.
'Husband', she muttered cynically under her breadth. 'Husband indeed'.
Opening the door, she tip-toed inside and quietly walked to her own bed. She was not about to wake her husband right now with any sort of noise. Therefore, she really had to be careful.
Finally she made it on her bed again with minimum noise. Thank goodness. She was not aware if Ejike had gone to ease himself before she woke. Maybe he had. They rarely woke the same time to go outside to urinate.
Grace lay down but the sleep refused to come back. She hated being awake at night. There's always something inexplicable with darkness, and probably that was why so many evil is apportioned to darkness and done under its cover.
'. . .that stupid fool in a red cap.!'
What had Ejike meant by that? she knew Ejike quite well by now. Yes, he was drunk last night but he knew what he was saying.
'What was that man doing here?'
That was the first question Ejike her husband had asked her as he walked through the door. He must have seen someone, but who?
'. . .that stupid fool in a red cap.'
Grace paused. She had to figure this out before her husband wakes up.
'Now, who wears a red cap?' She thought to herself. Red cap?
She does not really know anyone that wears a red cap. . .
Except the ichies of the land!
Ejike was not a titled ichie, to start with he is still relatively young by the standards of the coronation of an ichie. And then he is not one given to the tradition and cultures of the land.
'. . .that stupid fool in a red cap!'
The more Grace tried to figure it out, the more it behaved like the 'orafuru nwata n'ikpa' bird.
They are birds that fly in groups, scores at a time. They never grow to be big and they like perching on shrubs, singing and dancing; and because of their colourful feathers kids would always go after them to catch them for keeps.
But each time one comes close, close enough to try to catch them; they'll all fly away and perch on the next closest shrub, singing and dancing. On and on the game goes, and before the kids would realize it, they had gone too far into the bush and most times they lose their way!
That's why the birds were called 'orafuru nwata n'ikpa', literally meaning 'the child deceiver in the lonely bush'.
That was exactly what was playing out in Grace's mind.
'. . .that stupid fool in a red cap!'
It was as if she could reach out in her mind and catch the 'bird' meaning, each time she does, the 'bird' in her mind just flies away and perches just a little beyond reach, and again, and again. . .
Now, who was it that her husband saw in their house? How was it possible that she did not see the person?
Maybe she should just stop thinking herself to death and just wait for her husband to wake.
She cast a glance at him.
The light from the lamp was unsteady, throwing the orange and red flame with reckless abandon against the walls. You could barely tell where the shadows began and where the lighting ended, as the flame flicked this way and that, altering its pattern on the wall every single moment.
Ejike was still in the same posture he slept in. A weird position, and strange for him to have slept in it all through the night. . .
That was when the ikoro sounded.
And again.
And again. Louder this time, more ferocious and persistent. How could Ejike sleep through this?
'Ejike!'
'Ejike the ikoro is sounding!', Grace nervously called out to her husband.
Grace knew that the ikoro sounding at this time of the night with such urgency and persistence does not mean well for the land of Umueze. Something somewhere had definitely gone wrong. She needed Ejike awake right away.
Ejikeeee!'
Silence.
Grace was about to panic, and she became conscious of her heartbeat as it resounded in her eardrums. She felt the hairs at the nape of her neck stand on edge as she was slipping into a nervous panic and her mind started playing games with her through weird suggestions that Ejike could be dead. 'That's not possible', she tried countering the evil voice speaking in her head.
The ikoro sounded on, howling in the eerie darkness, saturating the atmosphere, droning above the usual chirping of insects and the call of the wild.
Grace stood from her bed, her wrapper tied around her fair plump body. She walked up to Ejike where he still lay on his bed, he had better sobered up right away.
But death comes cold, and stays cold.
At the instant she touched him, she knew immediately that something had gone wrong. The flesh was cold, set and woody to touch as rigor mortis had started to set in. Instantly, her head felt clogged up and hazy like it had taken a crazy spin. Was she having a dream?
Somehow she felt suspended between reality and imagination, the imagination refusing to accept the reality or the reality refusing to accept the clearer imagination.
She peered into his face.
The set and glazed eyes could only be those of a dead; glassy and without focus. The mouth was open too, like a door slightly set ajar; framed into what seemed like a silent scream.
Grace fell into a swoon and let out a shrill scream. She felt herself falling, and reached out to grab a hold on something. But there was only the thin air in that little room she had always shared with her husband. Then she seemed to plunge into darkness, the little light she was seeing in that darkness seemed to be spiraling; it was like turbulent peace as all her body went numb. There was a thud as she hit the floor, but then she was beyond feeling anything; and she was so far away. . .
In the darkness outside, the ikoro sounded on. . .
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Thank you for stopping by. If you enjoyed the Sneak Peak, please leave comments, so Vincent knows you dropped by. I love to read your views too.
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If you are a writer or an author and you would like to share a Sneak Peak from your Work-In-Progress, send the details to me via email.
You remain unforgettable.
Have a wonderful week.
Love
Stella
Flirty& amp; Feisty Romance
Our promise...is to deliver an intensely emotional experience you'll never forget.
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